


Fictober 2020, Working In the Neutral Edition

by Clockwork_Dragon



Category: Original Work
Genre: Angst, Fictober 2020, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I'm not tagging everything, Let's hope I finish this year!, M/M, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Some LONG Chapters, at least not right now, day one is the most painful so far, depending on how much I can write for the prompt, just a lil bit tho, mostly - Freeform, some short chapters, there's so much, warnings at the start of each chapter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-01
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:14:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 2,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26754886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Clockwork_Dragon/pseuds/Clockwork_Dragon
Summary: 31 one shots, with scenes ranging from fluff to angst to hurt/comfort. Featuring: gay bois being gay, found family, and characters being as chaotic as possible. Updates daily! Prompts will be published in order.
Relationships: Original Male Character/Original Male Character





	1. Prompt list and Worldbuilding Notes

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! This first chapter will be a list of the prompts I'm using, and also some worldbuilding and character notes. I'm doing my best to keep the oneshots understandable if they're read on their own, but it can be hard to keep it isolated. It might update as I think of things to add, but hopefully it should be okay! If I need to add anything let me know, and enjoy!

  1. "no, come back!"
  2. "That’s the easy part"
  3. "You did this?"
  4. "that didn’t stop you before"
  5. "unacceptable, try again"
  6. "That was impressive"
  7. “Yes I did, what about it?”
  8. “I’m not doing that again.”
  9. “Will you look at this?”
  10. “All I ever wanted”
  11. “I told you so”
  12. “Watch me”
  13. “I missed this”
  14. “You better leave now”
  15. “Not interested, thank you”
  16. “I never wanted anything else”
  17. “Give me a minute or an hour”
  18. “You don’t see it?”
  19. “I can’t do this anymore”
  20. “Did I ask?”
  21. “This, this makes it all worth it”
  22. “And neither should you”
  23. “Do we have to?”
  24. “Are you kidding me?”
  25. “Sometimes you can even see”
  26. “How about you trust me for once?”
  27. “Give me that”
  28. “Do I have to do everything here?”
  29. “Back up!”
  30. “Just say it”
  31. “I trust you”



Sentinels: People who have died and are now essentially grim reapers with wings and different clothes, have to be a Wanderer first before becoming a Sentinel

Wanderers: People who have just died, aren't yet Sentinels, have to find closure in order to move on or become a Sentinel

Ethes: People who died and weren't Escorted by a Sentinel in time, have now lost most of their humanity and instead hunt down and kill Sentinels and Wanderers. Complicated ghost zombies, essentially, have many different types including but not limited to panthers, dragons, and supersoldiers with wings

All of these groups are invisible to most living people, and the society of Sentiels lies adjacent to mortal society, though is slightly different. I do have all of the politics figured out but that interests no one apart from myself so I won't include it here

There is much more to all of this, but hopefully the rest of it will be able to unfold naturally in the one-shots.


	2. Day One: No, come back!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Damien and Ray struggle following the loss of Damien's sister.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings for: arguing, implied/refrenced past abuse, grief, minor character death (off screen), negative self talk. If I need to add anything, let me know!

“No, come back!” Damien called to Ray’s retreating back. He paused in the hallway, not making any move to turn around. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I didn’t mean to say it like that.”

“Yeah, well, Naomi was my sister, too.” Ray said, glancing over his shoulder.  _ Sister in law, _ Damien thought to himself, or at least he thought he did. “Do you think the difference really matters right now?” Ray asked harshly, turning around and stepping towards Damien. He flinched, and Ray paused. “Sorry,” he said, clearly forcing his shoulders to relax. “Listen, I need to go clear my head for a bit. I’ll be back, I just,” he sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “I need some space, okay?” Damien bit his lip and nodded. Ray took a deep breath and headed for the door. 

“I really am sorry,” Damien said to the closed door. He didn’t mean to argue with Ray, things were just so much harder since his sister Naomi had died.  _ And it was your fault _ , a part of his brain whispered. He shook his head. “No, no, I can’t deal with that right now,” he muttered. He had had enough of that thinking in the past week, and he was getting tired of it. And he took that frustration out on Ray, who didn’t deserve any of it. Thinking back on what he had said, he flinched. 

“No wonder he had to leave,” he said to his hands, still folded in his lap. “God, why am I so stupid?” he said, louder, flinging himself back onto the bed, covering his face with his hands. Again, he wished Naomi was still alive, she had always been so much better than him at apologizing. But she was dead, and it was his fault. He didn’t know what else to do, so he just lay on the bed and waited. For what, he wasn’t certain. But it was better to think nothing than have to deal with everything else.


	3. Chapter Two: That's the easy part

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Damien and Ray train Skylar and also drop some of their backstory.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's six minutes before midnight but hey it still counts! Content warnings for combat, but it's just practice, without any real stakes or harm. If I need to add anything, let me know!

“Urgh, I don’t get it,” Skylar said as they were knocked to the ground yet again. “How did you guys manage to learn all of this?” Damien grinned.

“Learning it, that’s the easy part. The hard part is knowing how to use it when you’re on the field and having to improvise in the middle of combat,” he said, swinging the end of his pole into the back of their knees. They quickly doged, sending him a glare. Ray laughed from the sidelines.

“It was easier with our teacher,” he said. “She was very much a no-nonsense person, and if you didn’t learn to dodge-”

“You got bruised,” Damien said, ducking one of Skylar’s blows. “But her training has saved our lives countless times, so it was worth it,” he said, feinting left before hitting their right. Skylar went down again.

“This isn’t fair,” they growled. “I got into so many fights, I would’ve thought I’d be better at this.”

“In your defense- which you need to work on by the way, your right is wide open,” Ray commented, “we’ve been doing this for- how long, Damien?” 

“About a hundred and thirty years- woah!” he said, having to take a step back as he narrowly avoided Skylar’s attack. He grinned. “Good one!” he said, retaliating.

“Like he said, we’ve been doing this for a while, and you’ve been learning for two weeks. Give it time,” he said. 

“And practice,” Damien added, neatly sidestepping. Skylar curled their lip in frustration. Suddenly getting a burst of inspiration, they waited until Damien attacked again, rolling out of the way. As he tried to recover, they took their pole and hit the back of his knees, knocking him into the dirt instead of them for once.

“Yes!” they cheered, only to have their feet knocked out from under them too.

“Staying alert also helps,” Ray called, and Skylar tiredly flipped him off. He laughed. Damien offered them a hand up. 

“I think that’s enough practicing for now,” he said. “Why don’t we head back inside?” Skylar took his hand.

“You’re just mad I finally managed to hit you,” they said with a grin, walking past him to head for the door.


	4. Day Three: You did this?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Damien is a sappy gay, and Ray appreciates him. Aka fluff. Pure fluff.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: haha yeah this'll be updated daily  
> Also me: doesn't update for several days  
> So uh yeah whoops- sorry about that. I have a backlog up to day 13 so far though, so it's more a matter of remembering to post rather than being able to write. Unfortunately, I tend to be forgetful so if updates are more sporadic, I'm sorry.   
> Anyways, as far as I'm aware, there is nothing to warn for in this one, it is pure fluff. If there is anything, though, just let me know!

“Hey, Ray, can I show you something?” Damien asked, shifting his weight slightly from foot to foot as he awkwardly stood in the doorway. Ray closed his book and looked up at him.

“Of course, what is it?” Picking something up off a table that was hidden by the wall and hiding it behind his back, Damien walked over to Ray. A nervous smile on his face, he handed him a hand sewn dark blue bag.

“I-I know it’s nowhere near as good as if you had made it, but-”

“You did this?” Ray asked, running his hands over the fabric. Damien nodded. Ray looked up at him and grinned. “This is amazing, my angel. I love it.” Damien beamed.

“There’s more, open it.” Ray opened the top flap of the bag and peeked inside. There was a collection of books, and he instantly recognized all but one. 

“These are… are these all of my favorite books?”

“Yep!” Damien said brightly, sitting on the arm of the couch next to Ray. “I found as many of your old favorites as I could find. Some of them were hard, since they’ve gone out of print years ago, but almost all of the ones I know you’ve said you wish you could read again are in there.” 

“This is… this is incredible, Damien,” Ray said, picking up one well-worn book. “But, what’s this one?”. It was a pocket sized black leather notebook, and while it had clearly been taken good care of, it was easily the oldest book in the group. 

“Why don’t you open it,” Damien said, grinning down at him from his perch. Ray carefully opened the cover. The first page was covered with a very familiar handwriting, and as he started to read the first poem, his eyes lit up with recognition. 

“This is the first poem you wrote for me,” he said in awe, his hand carefully resting on the page. Damien nodded. Ray started flipping through the journal, every page filled with Damien’s neat handwriting.

“I’ve been waiting to give that to you until it was done, but that’s the first journal I started writing my poems for you in. Every page is either something about you, or reminded me of you.” Ray felt tears start to prick at the corners of his eyes.

“Damien… I don’t know what to say. This is perfect. Thank you.” Damien leaned down and gently kissed his cheek.

“Anything for you, mon soleil.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise you there is an actual backstory reason they know French, it's not just me being cliche about romance for once


	5. Day Four: That didn't stop you before

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ray gets hurt but doesn't want to worry Damien, so he tries to not say anything. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to hide something from someone you've known for almost 150 years. Especially when you're married to said someone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for descriptions of pain and a fairly non-descriptive injury. If there's anything else I should tag, let me know!

Ray was sitting on the edge of the couch, lost in thought. Or at least, that’s what he hoped he looked like. In reality, he was gritting his teeth and trying to not make a sound despite the throbbing pain in his ankle. He had landed on it awkwardly last night, and it still hadn’t seemed to have gotten any better; if anything, it was worse. But he didn’t want to worry Damien, so he stayed quiet. 

“Hey, are you ready to go?” Damien asked, standing next to the door. Ray looked up at him and offered the best grin he could muster.

“I’ll be ready in a minute, I just need to, uh, grab a different jacket,” Ray said, floundering for an excuse. “You can go on ahead without me, I’ll catch up.” Damien hesitated. 

“Are you sure? You’ve gone without a jacket entirely, and that didn’t stop you before. What is it?” Ray shook his head.

“It’s nothing Damien, don’t worry about it. I’ll be-” he had to stop talking as he shifted slightly, sending a bright jolt of pain through his ankle, making him let out a slight hiss. Damien walked over to him.

“No, it’s not nothing. You’re hurt, aren’t you.” Ray shook his head again, more insistent. 

“I’m fine Damien, don’t worry about it. Just… go on ahead without me.” Damien kneeled down on the floor in front of Ray and took his hand.

“Ray,” he said quietly. Silently, he meant,  _ tell me what’s wrong, you know I’m not leaving you here alone _ . Ray said nothing. “You got hurt last night. Was it from the fall?” Biting his lip, Ray nodded once, avoiding Damien’s eyes. Damien sighed and squeezed his hand, running his thumb over Ray’s knuckles. “You need to tell me when things like this happen, okay?” Ray nodded again, squeezing his eyes to stop tears from falling from them.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, his voice hoarse.

“Oh, love,” Damien murmured, reaching up with his free hand to wipe a tear from Ray’s cheek. “It’ll be okay. I’m not mad at you, or anything like that.”  
“Not even disappointed?” Ray said, a small smile on his face. Damien returned it.

“No, not even disappointed.” 

“That’s good to h- ah!” Ray said, gritting his teeth as another bolt of pain shot through his ankle. Damien’s face turned back to serious.

“What is it?”

“Ankle,” Ray said through gritted teeth, tightening his fists as he attempted to ride out the pain. 

“Here, I’ll look at it,” he said, raising up Ray’s pant leg. When he saw it, he inhaled sharply. “Yeah, that doesn’t look all that good,” he admitted. “I don’t know if you’ve fractured it, or maybe even broken it.” 

“All I know is that it hurts,” Ray said, giving up on hiding it. Damien hummed as he thought.

“We might have to ask Hazel to come over and look at it,” he said. Ray quickly shook his head.

“No, I’m sure she’s busy, we don’t have to- ngh.” 

“Sorry,” Damien said as he rolled his pant leg back down. “But I don’t really know what to do here, and even if I did, I don’t know if we have anything that would be able to help.” Ray sighed. After a while, he said,

“Fine, you can call Hazel. But tell her that it’s not urgent.” Damien sent him a glance, but stood and went to do it anyway.


	6. Day Five: Unacceptable, try again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Damien struggles with his self-worth, Ray helps.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact, I wrote this day first, and I'm doing this whole thing almost exclusively to write this one. It's also really short but hey what can I say, this is the exact scene I had in mind. Also it's pure hurt/comfort, which is what I both read and write the most, so hopefully it's still decent despite it being the first written,
> 
> Warnings for negative self talk and struggles with self worth, and as usual, if I need to tag anything, let me know!

Damien was sitting on the bed, his knees pulled up to his chin. “It’s just, I don’t know anymore, Ray,” He said, avoiding his eyes. “I do the best I can, but people still get hurt! And, and everytime I let one of them down, I can’t help but think that maybe, maybe they’d be okay if I wasn’t… me. A failure. Someone who-” He stopped suddenly as Ray leaned over and gently pressed a kiss to his cheek. 

“Unacceptable, try again,” he murmured. 

“What?” 

“No one talks about my husband like that, so try again.” Damien couldn’t help but let a small smile creep on his face.

“That’s my line, you know.” Ray hummed.

“Maybe, but it’s effective.” Damien shook his head and leaned against him. “Hey, you’ve still got to say something good about yourself. I’m not letting you get out of this one,” Ray said, nudging him. Damien sighed.

“Alright, alright. I’m, hmm,” he said, thinking. “I’m pretty good at picking locks, I guess.”

“Pretty good? Darling, you’re the best I know,” Ray said, kissing his forehead. Damien smiled. 

“If you say so.”

“I do say so, because it’s true.” Damien didn’t have a reply for that, instead choosing to snuggle closer to Ray’s side.


End file.
